Cat Pee EVERYWHERE! WTF???

[Fractious_Fox]

OP, my two cents:

Litter boxes: I have a sensitive cat (male). We have had three cats (only two now, sadly). I realized I was wasting time with regular litter boxes. I went out and bought the biggest rubbermade containers I could find. High sides are a plus. I cut a hole in the side for the “sensitive cat” to not have an excuse to not use it. I dressed them up by putting them in IKEA chests (the ones with the slatted sides, so lots of ventilation). I bedded each one really deep. Worked like a charm.

Health issue: The Sensitive One started peeing randomly again about 10 months ago. I couldn’t come up with a why, but decided I really should get him checked out medically. Turns out he had developed stones the size of small peas. He had to have major surgery to remove them, but he was peeing EVERYWHERE and out of the blue prior to this discovery. Like, I would find new pee three times a day. It was awful and I threw away A LOT of pillows (he prefers pillows. Cats are so weird with their individual quirks). So, you seriously might want to try to catch who is peeing and whisk them off to the vet. If it hurts when they pee where they are supposed to, they will try to find a place that doesn’t hurt. Probably your pillow. And you will probably discover it late at night when you lay your exhausted head onto a crusty layer of dried cat piss.

Good luck!

[BLBGP]

People have already mentioned the health and quantity of boxes. Some other questions - what kind of boxes are you using? Some kitties hate covered, some hate uncovered. Are they portly? Maybe it’s hard for them to get in/out. Are they declawed? That can cause huge litterbox issues. What kind of litter are you using? Did you recently change it?

[Fractious_Fox]

[QUOTE=RedmondDressage;8108819]
At least then we’d be down to two, which I find is a reasonable number of cats.[/QUOTE]

Here we seriously disagree. I am regularly told by my wonderful other half that I’m just one husband away from being a crazy cat lady

[Go_Fish]

When you say they don’t get along, what do you mean? Is it they just avoid each other, or do they have spats, even occasionally?

We had this problem crop up and it turns out that one cat was picking on another when that cat was using the litter box. The big meany figured out that when the other cat was in the middle of peeing, it was an excellent opportunity to harass the cat he didn’t like. It caused the shy cat to pee in some pretty unusual places to protect herself.

We solved it by putting a litter box by where the shy cat liked to sleep and hang out. It didn’t solve the problem 100%, but it cut down on it considerably. I would also agree with others have said…add at least one more box, possibly two.

[candyappy]

Once they start peeing " outside the box" I doubt you will stop it. You can thoroughly clean the area but they still know where they have gone. Having multiple cats makes it so much more difficult. We had a 7 year old start that and after having her vet checked it was a physical issue and we put her down.

I refuse to ruin my house and furniture over a cat. Our last cat is 7 now. He is an in/out cat and so far he has been fine.

[Lori_B]

I have 4 cats, females, aged 15, 13, 10, and 10, and 4 boxes. The cats are pretty chummy, and the house has plenty of places for them to go. One of the 10 year olds will anxiety pee from time to time. She targets any wadded up fabric (last night: my pajama bottoms, tossed on my bed), and sometimes stuff left on the floor. Sometimes the boxes are in need of cleaning, but not always. She has has recent blood work and is pristinely healthy.

My recommendations: more boxes (as above), try boxes with high sides and no lid, don’t use bleach or other smelly cleaners. It can be completely maddening, you have my sympathy.

OXYCLEAN products are your friend. I also have had good luck with this stuff in a white bottle with purple print, can’t remember what it’s called.

[Covergirl15]

Agree with those about the multiple litter boxes (2 of our cats will guard it–one does it b/c he is possessive and the other one will hide behind the door and jump when someone leaves that room–she’s trying to play), but having 2 (cleaned 2x a day) really helped. Also, check on the UTI–our male cat started peeing outside the box so we took him in, and sure enough, he had one–luckily we caught it pretty early.

[maybedog]

My sister is dealing with this issue. Single 4 yr old spayed indoor female, huge house. She noticed the cat was not using the litter boxes (2) but could not figure out where she was going. Found some poop on carpet in one of the many bedrooms but no pee. Finally found out she was peeing on the sofas in the music room between the cushions! Took her to vet but nothing showed up. They put her on Clavamox just in case but… Don’t know how she will clean those cushions!

[Ruth0552]

In the gross majority of cases, cats that are having a urinary issue have a health problem and they are trying to tell you something.

It is rare that a cat has an actual behavioral issue that causes them to pee somewhere other than the box.

I have 5 cats. Of the five, 3 have had urinary issues. 1 had stones that had to be surgically removed, 1 had cystitis that was treated and hasn’t flared up again in years, and the third has an actual behavioral issue that is addressed by providing her with a soft flat surface to pee on next to the litter box. It’s on tile, so I just pick up the puppy pad/old towel/whatever and toss it, and quickly use the wet swiffer and then put down a new pad.

I also find a lot of the time that the people that complain about the smell of cats from having cats were not cleaning their litter boxes often enough. I clean mine every 2-3 days, and I have 5 boxes for 5 cats, and my house rarely smells.

[WildandWickedWarmblo]

Buy cosequin and give it to the cat daily. That will help the kidney stone and “sand” go thru the urinary tract.

Keep cat pans clean. Give cats multiple pans to use.

Should clear up the problem if you do the above. BTDT.

Don’t stop using the cosequin when the urinary problem clears up. It is good to keep the cat(s) on it.

[Lori_B]

Ruth, it would be great if what you are saying was true, but it’s not. I have had several cats whose health was cleared by the vet repeatedly, who had clean boxes available, and who would pee out of the box when anxious (we think) about something, we don’t know what.

If you’ve cleared their blood and urine for evidence of urinary tract anything, and they are still peeing, you are facing one of the WORST cat ownership problems. And no one really knows how to fix it in every case. Once you put out multiple clean boxes, and feed them to minimize the risk of kidney stones, and make their lives as low stress as you can figure out how to do, then WTF?

Just saying that they must have an illness is a copout in this case and others like it.

[summerhorse]

Lots of good advice here.

Other thing to consider, after cats are cleared medically:

In addition to putting out more boxes in more areas, try different litters and see if there is a preference for size, consistency, scent (or unscented). Also consider trying Cat Attract litter.

Try removing the covers, many cats who are not friendly with t heir housemates are afraid to get caught in a covered litterbox, there is no escape.

Try isolating each cat in a different room, see if the behavior continues in there. Then let one out and see if it continues in the general house. Then let another one out. If those two get along and no box problems you have a suspect. Put the others up and let that one out, then let another one out. You can eventually figure out who is doing what where.

Many tips on Jackson’s site for re-introducing battling cats.

Medications might help, anti-anxiety, etc.

My sympathies, I have a marking cat that is driving me crazy and of course nobody wants him. He is also a bully and chases/pounces on my girls. he’d probably be fine in a single cat home.

[thatmoody]

Yup, we have 3 cats, 2 of whom get along swimmingly, and the third who has finally decided that in order to be queen, one must have subjects, so she’s tolerating the others. She was having an issue with the other two - took her to the vet, she’s healthy, and so we added a fourth litter box with a different type of litter (she refuses pine and the other two LOVE it so I’ve lured them away from “her” box with two pine boxes. Seems to be working ok for now (oh, and she wasn’t going OUT of the box, she was kind of hanging her a$$ off the edge, so we made sure they were all high-sided boxes). I adore my cats, and they are the reason I have tile :). It’s not my favorite problem to solve, but it’s an important one. Oh yeah, and I do use an enzymatic cleaner to clean up any “drips.” It doesn’t smell, but it does a good job of removing the odor. I always ask people anxiously when they come into my house if they can smell any cats, and they always say no, so I figure it’s a decent solution.